Sunday, May 4

Checking In

The project continues...slower progress than I anticipated, but worth the effort. The ultimate goal is to have a collection of poetry to submit to publishers and competitions. This requires reading every poem I've written over the past 5 years, finding common themes, editing, choosing photos and assembling them into a collection, hoping all the while that once in the hands of publishers and judges, it won't end up at the bottom of a pile.

Not much time for writing anything new, but here's a great poem from Wendell Berry that spoke to me:

How To Be A Poet(to remind myself)Make a place to sit down.Sit down. Be quiet.You must depend uponaffection, reading, knowledge,skill - more of eachthan you have - inspiration,work, growing older, patience,for patience joins timeto eternity. Any readerswho like your work,doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breaththe unconditioned air.Shun electric wire.Communicate slowly. Livea three-dimensional life;stay away from screens.Stay away from anythingthat obscures the place it is in.There are no unsacred places;there are only sacred placesand desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.Make the best you can of it.Of the little words that comeout of the silence, like prayersprayed back to the one who prays,make a poem that does not disturbthe silence from which it came.

Ridin' Shotgun

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This blog was created to give my family and friends a bird's eye view of the journey I am on. If you read something that resonates with you and you'd like to plaster it on your refrigerator, bathroom mirror, cubicle wall or share it with someone you love, I am honored. If you read something that resonates with you and you pass it off as your own...shame on you.

Most everything on this blog was created from my heart and mind. If I share other writers' work, their name is credited.